Travels and Researches in Asia Minor, Mesopotamia, Chaldea, and Armenia, by William Francis Ainsworth (London, 1842). The download includes volumes one and two of this two-volume set, in 793 searchable and bookmarked pdf pages. Surgeon, geographer, and geologist, Ainsworth was in Mespotamia and Asia Minor from about 1836 to the early 1840s. According to the Wikipedia entry (
William Francis Ainsworth), "In 1836 Ainsworth...was appointed surgeon and geologist to the expedition to the River Euphrates under Francis Rawdon Chesney. Shortly afterwards he was placed in charge of an expedition to the Christians of Chaldaea, which was sent out by the
Royal Geographical Society and the
Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge. He went to Mesopotamia, through Asia Minor, the passes of the Taurus Mountains, and northern Syria, reaching Mosul in the spring of 1840. During the summer he explored the Kurdistan mountains and visited Lake Urmiah in Persia, returning through Greater Armenia; and reached Constantinople late in 1840." Ainsworth visited the major Armenian communities of Asia Minor, Mesopotamia, and Caucasian Armenia, and provides invaluable information about them. This is an important source for the history of the Christian communities of the Ottoman Empire. Books digitized by Google and compiled by Robert Bedrosian.
